


Dorms Rooms & High School Diplomas

by butterflyprince (rinmatsuokaswife)



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drabble Collection, F/F, Flashbacks, High School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 17:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3217982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinmatsuokaswife/pseuds/butterflyprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aisha and Rena are two roommates living in a college dorm with a romantically-linked past. How will they handle daily life in an unaccepting environment and only their dorm room as a place of safety? Drabbles and flashbacks from high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Full-time Jobs & Video Games

"Yeah! Take that, motherfucker!"

Rena mashed the keys of her black controller, head down and her eyes glued to the screen in front of her.

It was 6:29PM, precisely the afternoon and slowly approaching evening. As it was late spring, the sun was somehow still up in the sky, casting its soft yet equally blinding rays over the landscape of Velder University. The temperature was still quite nice outside, but no tired, underslept student would be willing to leave their dorm room past 5PM with several hours worth of homework and little to no social life. Aisha was shocked sometimes at how Rena managed to maintain a friendly disposition with all of her fellow classmates, despite all of the essays and projects she had to work on, as well as the massive amounts of gaming she put into her schedule as well.

Their dorm room was only somewhat neat; and as much cleaning as Aisha tried to do while Rena was away in class, it was obvious that the room was very much lived in. Even after picking up every candy wrapper and paper plate off the floor, there was always still a bag of chips or a few cans of soda that had been ignored, left alone to fend for themselves on the carpet. The bed was almost never made, because frankly, neither of them cared; and everything else in the room probably required more sweeping than anything else, because a thin layer of dust was slowly starting to cover every inch of furniture present.

Aisha sighed. She was currently at her desk, seated on a big heavy-duty swivel chair, her legs pulled underneath her butt. Even with her fascinating laptop screen situated right in front of her, Rena's fun was slowly getting too distracting.

"Ha hah! Sucker!" Rena yelled in triumph.

"Will you keep it down?!" Aisha demanded, her voice raised and as exasperated as ever. "I'm trying to concentrate and you're not helping."

"Gimme a break, I'm on the last level!" Rena suddenly quieted a moment, eyes narrowed, focusing more on the game. She was sitting on the floor right beside

Aisha's desk, in front of the little flat-screen TV set up on the ground. Her long blond hair was down, greasy and unwashed, and her makeup not removed, the sweat on her forehead slowly starting to melt off parts of her foundation. She had thrown off her cute and girly outfit in exchange for a loose muscle tank top showing each side of her black lacy bra, and a pair of loose booty shorts that revealed every bit of leg she had.

Aisha rolled her eyes and turned her chair back to her laptop, slowly starting to type again. She was busy doing work for her new full-time job and it had to be done by tomorrow. Even if Rena was being annoying, that wouldn't stop her from completing what she had to do to get their money for the week.

"Yes... Yes... Yes, yes, yes! YES! FUCK YEAH!" Rena threw her arms up to the sky and her controller went with them, as she cheered and celebrated for her obvious victory.

"It appears you won," Aisha muttered under her breath.

"Thank God I did, I've been trying to beat that boss for the past week." Rena retrieved her fallen controller and started pressing buttons again, but less violently as she had before her win.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" Aisha asked.

Rena laughed awkwardly. "Shiiiiiiiiit. You had to remind me, didn't you?"

"Seriously, Rena?!" Aisha turned to her, incredulous.

"Calm down, I'm gonna start now, okay? Jeez..." Rena put down her controller and turned the TV off, before flopping back on to the floor. "I have a lot more stuff due tomorrow anyway, I should probably have gotten on to it sooner."

"Then get on with it," Aisha replied, starting to type again.

There was a pause, but then Rena stood up slowly, taking a few steps over to the swivel chair where Aisha sat. She was quiet, but Aisha felt Rena put her hands casually on each arm of the chair, leaning over, locks of her hair falling over the edge. "Hey..." she said, "do you know what would _reeeeeeaaaaaally_ help me?" Suddenly she was leaning in even closer now, her warm breath on Aisha's head, her soft hair landing on her back, her large chest inching closer to Aisha's line of vision.

"Get your boobs out of my face," Aisha said shortly.

"...If you would do _that thing_ that you did in high school." There was a seductive edge to Rena's voice, only sounding that way when she was feeling especially horny. Her arms went around Aisha's arm and shoulders and she pushed her chin to the side of Aisha's head, her breasts nudging Aisha's back suggestively. Aisha groaned.

"Remember?" Rena murmured.

Aisha directed her hands up through Rena's arms and towards her ribs, giving them a light pinch. Rena, surprised, let out a high-pitched giggle, and her arms retracted immediately, wrapping themselves around herself. Aisha smiled out of amusement. "I knew you were sensitive somewhere," she laughed.

Rena furrowed her brows and her lips made an immature pout. "God, Aisha, you're so mean," she whined. Then suddenly, there was a spark in her eyes, and she grinned evilly. "Was that an invitation for _you_ to be tickled?" she asked intuitively.

Aisha's smile disappeared in seconds. "Oh God no."


	2. Summer Boredem & Long Hugs

"God, I'm so bored," Rena moaned.

It was the beginning of paradise: the first few weeks of summer. The wet and cold air of winter and spring had become hot and sticky, and unbearably humid. The sun was constantly above and over the sky, staring down those underneath it with thick rays of light. This time of the season, the blinds on their windows were slightly open than usual, but their air condition was on full-blast. The dank air of the dorm room smelled like the sweat and tears of tired, not well-rested, and namely bored, students just like Rena.

"Well, I can't blame you for feeling that way," Aisha grumbled, waving an unfolded fan at her face as she typed an email with one hand.

"It's like the weather is flipping us off and telling us 'Fuck you!'" Rena responded. She was lying on the carpet, her hair splayed out across the ground. She was dressed in one of Aisha's form-fitting tank tops and a loose pair of shorts, but even in her airy outfit, there was still a thin layer of sweat visible on the skin of her arm pits and inner thighs. Even Aisha had dressed down for the weather, switching out her thick sweat pants and t-shirt for a clothing combination similar to Rena's.

The TV on the floor was switched on to the news channel, when a sudden weather report came up. "Aaaand guess what, folks? If you didn't think it was hot enough already, well get ready to face even hotter temperatures that are going off the charts! Experts are almost prepared to name this day as one of the hottest days of the year!"

"Kill me now," Aisha muttered under her breath.

Rena sighed and turned on to her side, transforming into a slump on the floor. "At this point, I'd rather go around in my underwear than even my lightest clothes..." she said sadly.

Aisha ignored her comment and continued to type. There was a report due the next day and she was almost done with it. Her fingers flew across the keyboard of her laptop as she neared her concluding paragraphs.

"Aisha, we should go to the beach," Rena declared, suddenly sitting up, leaning on her hands.

"Can't. I have to finish my report," Aisha responded.

"Come _ooonnnnnnnn_." Rena shifted her position so she was sitting in a way that allowed her to lean forward, her legs folded underneath her. "Can't you take at least a little break from work? I know it's important, but even you need a little vacation sometimes!"

"If you want to go so bad, then you can go by yourself," Aisha told her, her eyes still focused on her screen. "I know you've been buying those skimpy-looking bikinis behind my back, don't pretend you haven't."

Rena turned as red as a cherry in an instant. "Th-Those w-were supposed to be a surprise!" she stammered.

"Well it's not much of a surprise when you find a pile of them sprawled in the drawers underneath the bathroom sink with the towels." Aisha turned her head slightly and glanced at her. "Maybe think of a more clever location next time, okay?"

Rena put her hand to her head and let out a deep sigh again. "Gosh, you're no fun." She let herself fall on her side and supported her head with her fist, stretching out her legs with her heels almost touching the TV.

"Makes me wonder how you ended up choosing me over a bunch of assholes who only wanted to _have fun_ ," Aisha noted. She instantly regretted her observation after she said it; maybe she shouldn't have mentioned her previous relationships.

She was surprised to hear Rena let out a sad laugh. It didn't sound forced, but it sounded tired and deep-in-thought, as if reflecting on her past for only a short moment. "Yeah, I know right? It's funny how tastes change over time." Aisha turned to see Rena drawing circles on the floor with her finger, her long blond hair falling into her face. Rena then looked up at Aisha, a somber smile on her face. "Middle school and high school were tough times, after all."

Aisha swallowed. "I'm sorry, I spoke out of line." She then averted her eyes back to the screen. Now she was the one to feel embarrassed. _Wait to go, Aisha_ , she thought dejectedly to herself.

She could see Rena grin out of the corner of her eye. "Well, even if that wasn't really offensive, wanna know what would definitely make up for it?" she asked.

"What?"

Rena sat back up, stretching her arms out suggestively. "A nice hug."

Now that, Aisha couldn't turn down. She unfolded a leg that was seated underneath her and stepped off the big swivel chair. She crawled down on all fours and approached Rena, eagerly awaiting her apology. When she was close enough, Rena leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her, her chin hooking onto her shoulder and her cheek pressing into her neck. Aisha's heart fluttered softly and she completed the embrace by tugging her arms around her as well, nudging her nose into Rena's hair. They hugged silently, until Rena eventually leaned so far forward that they fell over, Aisha letting out a quiet cry before landing on her back, Rena on top of her.

"Please, I've got work to do, let's not go crazy today, okay?" Aisha asked, running a hand gently through Rena's mane.

Rena's right arm lowered down across Aisha's shoulder blades and down to her waist; Aisha shivered with a moment of pleasure and a moment of worry. But then, she felt her back getting pulled off the floor and ending up on her side, Rena still clutching Aisha tightly like a pillow, like it was the only thing she cared about, like it was all she had left.

"Don't worry," she murmured, her lips moving against Aisha's neck. "I'm not really in the mood right now."


	3. School Trips & Hot Springs

"Rena! Reeeeena! Jeez, where did that bimbo run off to this time..."

Passing down the shimmery halls of the beautiful Hamel Hot Spring Hotel, Aisha stormed across the polished floors, her eyes searching left and right, up and down, for the a fore-mentioned Rena. Walking along the gorgeous blue and white walls, the embellished chandelier pieces, and the glassy-sounding ground that made her shoes click as they moved, it saddened Aisha deeply that she had to spend her precious free time on this dumb school trip looking for her stupid temporary roommate.

Aisha could remember the horror and fear when she learned that Rena would be the one she would share her hotel room with. The two were opposites, born and raised for completely different social groups: Aisha was the bookish, smart straight-A student, who hung out with all of the nerds and spent more time in the library than at parties. Rena was the fun, enthusiastic, and annoyingly perfect popular girl, who ate lunch with all the loud, cool, equally pretty people and always was asked to dance at school events. There were also the physical differences, but that was a topic which would make an even deeper blow to Aisha's self-esteem.

She felt her heart race faster with panic when she passed by a clear window and saw the sight of the lustrous moon glowing down from a deep purple sky. Damn, she needed to find Rena now and she needed to find her fast before they got in trouble for breaching the curfew. Aisha felt her pace quicken and she steered her way through the numerous hallways, her purple pigtails flying after her.

She passed the indoor water fountain courtyard and caught sight of someone's blond hair, and she immediately stopped in her tracks and headed for their direction. When she approached, she gathered up the person's traits: light blue button up shirt with a pair of brown combat boots and an extremely short black skirt, with golden goddess-like waves reaching the middle of her back that framed around her face and shoulders perfectly. Yep, that was Rena for sure. But Aisha grew wary when she realized that standing in front of Rena was a familiar-looking boy from their class: and it was easy to tell he was familiar from his spiky red hair.

"So you just had to break up with me during the trip, didn't you?!" Rena growled angrily, her hands balled into fists. Then her voice became distressed. "Couldn't you have waited until after the trip? There were so many things we could have done, so many things that could have changed your mind-"

"Well so what?!" Elsword snapped. "I'm sorry to say this and I know this will hurt your feelings even more, but I couldn't wait! I'm tired of having to make time constantly for you! Don't you realize I have other responsibilities that aren't about you?!"

Rena was quiet, and a deathly silence rose up between the two. Aisha understood that maybe she had come at a bad time, but then she remembered; they needed to get back, and they had to soon. This was the best time to interrupt their argument.

"Um... Rena?"

Rena jolted around, staring at her wide-eyed, her mouth open like she was about to cry out, but then she calmed down, and relaxed slightly. Aisha felt bad when she could see the small tears growing in her eyes.

"Uh, I know this is a bad time, but we need to get back before curfew," Aisha explained, gesturing to the clock that was stationed carefully on one of the higher walls. "You know; we might get in trouble if we don't make it in time..."

Rena paused, as if trying to take the information in, but then she nodded. "Oh. O-Okay." Then she turned around, ignoring Elsword, and walked on, passing ahead of her. Aisha looked back awkwardly at the red-headed guy, who just sighed and scratched his head, scowling hard. He looked like he was going to break something, so Aisha quickly turned back and followed Rena from behind.

* * *

The walk back was quiet, but Aisha could tell that Rena was on-edge, and the tensity was only getting higher. As soon as they entered their hotel room, Aisha pulled off her gray hi-top Converse and headed for her bed. Meanwhile, Rena sat on the floor tugging off her boots angrily.

"Stupid, fucking, dumbass, asshat, dickbag, jerk, son of a bitch..." More vulgar words after another came pouring out from under Rena's breath. Even when she went to the bathroom, Aisha could hear her talking to herself through the door. She would have been amused, but she knew she'd be better off feeling bad for her instead; she seemed to have had a rough night anyway.

Once Rena came out of the bathroom and settled on her bed, her legs folded and her arms crossed, she turned her head to Aisha. "Did you go to the hot springs with the others?" she asked. Her voice didn't sound as mad as it had a few minutes before, but there was a strange tone to it that could've been classified as suspicious for sure.

Aisha shook her head. "No. I was busy reading while the others went." She picked up a thick volume and held it up in the air, gesturing to it with her other hand.

While she was silent at first, suddenly Rena smiled, and Aisha was surprised; in all honesty, she used to dislike Rena's smile, because it always looked so bright and flirty, making her look like she was trying to suck in everyone's attention while simultaneously making her jealous that her teeth were so nicely aligned. But this smile - this smile was different. It was soft, it was true to heart, and frankly a lot prettier than her normal smile. This smile made her look enthralling; captivating.

Aisha could feel herself blushing, so she quickly brushed away one of the falling bangs in her face. "M-My friends aren't actually on the trip," she confessed, feeling her brows furrow as the pink crept into her cheeks. "Otherwise, I-I probably would've gone."

When she looked back at Rena, she was surprised to see her nodding in agreement. "It's okay," she said, before grinning back at her, "my friends aren't really on this trip too."

Rena didn't allow Aisha to be confused about her last comment for even a moment, because soon enough, she was off the bed and heading towards hers. "Wanna go to the hot springs?" she asked, putting her hands on the bed. "Believe it or not, I didn't get to go either."

Aisha stared at her, perplexed. "That's impossible," she replied incredulously. "We'd get in an unbelievable amount of trouble. We can't."

"Nothing's impossible." Rena took Aisha's hand and tugged her off the bed, her heart skipping a beat. "Come on, let's get going. They're still open throughout the night, you know. The teachers won't notice."

"You can't be serious," Aisha protested. "Of course they'll notice! The staff will notice for sure! You realize this place is completely rigged with security cameras, right?!"

She ignored her. "God, you're so uptight," Rena groaned. "Get your shoes on, we're going out."

"I will actually call the teachers," Aisha threatened, pulling her cell phone out of her jeans pocket and holding it up, waving it with the turn of her wrist. "If we take one step out that door, I'll tell them you tried to make a run for it."

Rena's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"I will," Aisha returned, before quickly typing in her PIN with her thumb.

"No yOU WON'T!" Rena lunged forward, throwing an arm over Aisha's shoulder and pushing off the floor, reaching her other arm out to grab the cellular device. Aisha raised her phone-carrying-arm back, trying to get away from Rena's wild hands, before realizing that Rena's chest was pressing hard into her own. Her button-up shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a tight low-cut tank top that showed everything Aisha wasn't sure she needed to see. She blushed fiercely as her eyes found themselves peering lower and lower...

She couldn't let herself get distracted. As much as a part of her didn't want to, she averted her eyes away from Rena's cleavage and turned herself around, her back now facing Rena, trying to pry away her grasp on her shoulder. Now she was aiming towards the bathroom, ready to break free from Rena and sprint to the separate room, locking the door behind her.

Rena must have been able to tell what Aisha's plan was, because her arm movements grew more frantic, until finally she retracted her flailing arm and grabbed Aisha's side, digging her fingertips through her shirt. Aisha let out a surprised squeak.

"Knew it," Rena muttered triumphantly under her breath.

In seconds, she was tickling her, her fingers drumming her sides mercilessly as soon as her other hand grabbed Aisha's other side. Aisha began to laugh, laughing so hard that soon she was choking on her own laughter. Rena pressed up against her back, grinning wildly as she lived in the moment of torturing her poor, defeated victim. After around 30 seconds, soon Aisha gave up, and after one last giggle, she dropped the phone.

Seizing the opportunity, Rena dove for the phone and threw it towards her bed, the device landing softly on the pillows. Before Aisha could react, Rena tossed one arm around her waist and put her other hand to her mouth, pulling her along towards the door as Aisha thrashed violently against her grip.

* * *

A few minutes later, the two girls were not-so-conveniently walking down the hallways of the Hamel Hot Spring Hotel in their socks and heading for the elevators to take them down to the famous hot springs located in the basement of the structure. After hopping out of the elevator, Aisha was getting more frustrated by the minute.

"I can't believe you can be so insane," Aisha was saying, as Rena pulled her along and walked ahead of her, only held together by their linked hands. "You know, I thought you were crazy and wild in the first place, but I didn't know that you liked spending your time breaking rules too. Do you do this often? Decide to leave during the night and run off to go have some fun, have a good time? Do your parents realize your doing this? Don't they know that you're breaking the trust between you and them this damn often?!"

Rena hauled Aisha through an enormous, lavishly decorated doorway covered in gold and jewels, an enormous sign saying 'Hot Springs' in white cursive calligraphy above it. "Just shut up already," she snapped.

Soon, they were heading into the girls' changing rooms, which were lined with rows and rows of lockers against the walls to keep clothes in. Rena shoved Aisha forward and quickly closed the door behind them, bolting it shut. "Didn't know these doors had locks installed in them," Rena noted.

Aisha put her hands to her face. "Oh my god, how is this happening..."

Rena laughed, catching Aisha's attention. "Jeez, if you don't ever break rules this much, you need to start getting into more trouble." She passed by her and picked out one of the random square-shaped lockers lined up against the wall.

"Soooo... we're just going to go in the hot springs...?" Aisha asked awkwardly.

Rena started unbuttoning her shirt, turning her head to Aisha's direction. "Well, yeah. Do you need a bathing suit or something, or are you just gonna go commando and hop in naked?"

Aisha's mouth went dry. Was she really supposed to have a reasonable answer for this? "U-Um."

Rena sighed. "My goodness, this must be all brand-new to you." She pointed her hand towards a shelf near the other end of the changing rooms. "There's probably a spare swim suit in the back of the room somewhere if you look hard enough. Don't be surprised if it's a bikini though, because you'll seriously be wanting to take it off once you get in the water."

Suddenly there were too many things to worry about. Was Rena going to go in without a bathing suit? Was she herself going to go in without one? Would there be weird tension? Would Aisha see every inch of her...? All of a sudden everything was going too quickly and she wanted to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

Her anxiety was lowered when she saw Rena pull off her tank top over her head, revealing a pretty green bikini top with gold trim. The strings holding it together were tied behind her back in a thick bowknot; how had Aisha not noticed something so large poking out of the back of her shirt? It was so blatantly obvious now that it was almost funny. She let out an amused laugh.

Rena turned to her, starting to pull down her skirt, to reveal a matching bikini bottom. "What's so funny?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

"You've been wearing a bikini under your clothes this entire time?" Aisha demanded, shifting her weight to the side and crossing her arms, her eyebrows raised.

"What?" Rena dropped her skirt on the floor alongside her crumpled blue button-up and put her hands on her hips. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, I don't know, it's just kinda funny that you had a bikini on all day under your outfit, just waiting for the opportunity to find a random body of water to jump into or something. I mean, isn't that thing uncomfortable?" She gestured with her hand to the bathing suit. "Were you planning to get into the hot spring sooner?"

Rena sighed. "I'm guessing it wouldn't be enough for me to say that I was just excited to get in the hot springs, huh." She looked downwards at the floor in defeat, before looking up reluctantly at Aisha in the eye. Her expression suddenly became more solemn. "I was gonna go to the pools while we were here exploring the city today, get away from the teachers and find a random public place I could go into." She cracked a sad smile. "Elsword was gonna come with me, you know?"

Aisha thought for a moment she could see Rena's eyes water, but then Rena grinned, and instead, she beamed with excitement. "Come on, take your clothes off, we're gonna relax real well tonight." With a swish of her hair, she turned around and sauntered towards the steamy glass doors that led to the hot springs.

Watching her walk ahead with such a confident stride made Aisha envious for a moment; sure, she'd never really been in a relationship, but she imagined that if she had broken up with someone, the same day, she would be a crying slump flooding the world with her tears. And yet here was a girl who had just been dumped by a guy only an hour ago, acting like she didn't have a care in the world. It was an incredible act of strength, not allowing her relationships defining who she was, and she wished she could be that way too.

After stripping out of her black and white plaid hoodie, black skinny jeans, bra and panties, and gray beanie, she searched around the room, trying to comfortably walk around in her underwear without worrying about someone randomly coming in.

Eventually, Aisha did find a bathing suit, probably abandoned by one of the girls on their trip; a black two-piece swimsuit with straps that tied in an X behind her back and back around to the front. The bottoms were small, but they rode up her hips nicely and held themselves together with thin strings tied together on the sides. It wasn't her kind of swimsuit, but she'd rather wear something like this than go out wearing only a towel.

When she stepped out of the girls changing room and out into the hot springs area, she was surrounded by steam. The hot springs stood before her, like an enormous natural bath tub carved out of the earth. The moon's reflection glimmered off of the surface of the dark water, haunting yet beautiful; and with the tall stone walls enclosing the magical springs, the rest of the world felt locked out, a thick barrier between her problems and herself.

She spotted Rena sitting casually near one end of the spring, her hair pulled up into a messy bun that sat atop her head. Her arms were out of the water, lying on the ground outside of the hot spring, her head head leaning back, eyes closed. Her eyes opened when Aisha closed the door behind her, and she laughed.  
Aisha could feel Rena's sweet laughter redden her cheeks. "Wh-What?" she asked briskly, avoiding her eyes.

"Nothing. It's just that black really doesn't suit you," Rena explained, kicking back even further and throwing one long leg over the other. "But seriously, get in, this stuff is amazing."

Too bad black is one of the only colors I ever wear, she thought to herself. Scowling from her comment, Aisha tied her hair up and hesitantly stuck her toe in the water. It was very hot, but just mildly scalding; not enough to make her flinch. It was almost like a welcoming warmth, and it heated up her cold feet quickly. One step after another, she slowly lowered herself into the water and soon enough, she was sitting in the short end of the spring, the water circling around her ribs. Already, with only around half of her body in the water, she felt great; any sense of iciness on her skin was gone in an instant, replaced with soft, sultry sensation.

Letting out a sigh, she pushed herself further towards the deeper end, scooching over carefully as the water splashed slightly against her arms. Once the water was at her shoulders and nearing towards her neck, Aisha repositioned herself in a more comfortable position and let out a relaxed sigh.

"Feels nice, right?" Rena asked, glancing at her.

Aisha took in a deep breath. "Heavenly."

Rena smiled. "You're not wrong about that." She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, a stony wall painted in dark blues and dots of gold to resemble the night sky. The hot springs felt almost mystical and special, like something that you would think fairies or sprites would live; but there was almost something spiritual about it too, like it was a place to get in touch with your faith; but whether it be that or your imagination, it gave a fantastic, meditative atmosphere.

There was a silence between the two for a few moments, until Rena broke it. "You know, I'm actually kinda glad I was with Elsword while the others were in the hot springs, because then, nothing would be so still and quiet like this." She raised a hand out of the water, watching the droplets fall off the tips of her fingers.

Aisha nodded. "I'm glad too," she agreed. "With other people here, it would've ruined the peaceful energy going on."

"Also, I know this sounds a little weird, but I'm kinda glad I'm in here with someone I hardly know too," Rena added, glancing at Aisha from her skyward tilted chin.

Aisha's heart fluttered for a short moment. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah." Rena faced forward, lowering her gaze and staring into the water as if it was hypnotizing her into a trance. "I know it seems like a lot of us don't care about the people who don't hang out with us, but sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to be one of the non-cooler kids. That way I wouldn't have to go to parties or buy a ticket for every school dance. No offense," she said quickly.

"No, it's fine. It's sort of flattering to hear that from someone like you," Aisha replied. "No offense."

She grinned. "None taken."

As Rena continued to sit around listlessly in the water, Aisha opened her mouth, wondering if she should say what she was about to say, hoping it wouldn't come off as rude. "Um, I know this might make you uncomfortable and I'm sorry if it does," she began, "but I'm sorry I saw you break up with Elsword."

She bit into her lip immediately, wishing that she hadn't said so, but she was surprised to see Rena look at her as if the apology didn't bother her at all. Instead, her lips curled into a small smile. "It's alright, I don't really mind. Although, you're the first person to ever witness me getting dumped, so that makes you kinda special." She winked, and whether it was meant to be flirty or not, Aisha's cheeks flushed to a bright red.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend, Aisha?" Rena asked, tilting her head as if waiting for an outlandish answer. Aisha felt her hands dig into the stony ground, and she looked away quickly, her face feeling as warm as the hot spring water.

"N-No," she admitted. It almost felt like some sort of stupid confession.

"No boyfriend, huh?" Her voice sounded piqued with interest. "Well, in the long run that's probably a good thing. They say kids who date when they're young have the most chance of growing up with an unsuccessful future." She let out a disheartened laugh. "Sucks that I know that but I still end up dating someone anyway."

"Can't you just turn them down?" Aisha's cheeks no longer felt as hot, and now she was more intrigued by where the conversation was about to go.

Rena's expression became more doubtful-looking. "I guess that's a fault to being popular. Whenever someone asks me out, suddenly everyone knows, and then all they'll ever tell me is to just go for it. That's basically how it went with me and Elsword," she explained. "He was one of the 'lesser popular guys' but all the girls still thought he was cute. When he asked me out, my head was filled with nothing but every single one of my friends saying I should 'seize the opportunity' or 'take advantage of the moment'. The whole reason we got together was from peer pressure. In retrospect, it wasn't a good way to start the relationship."

Aisha was quiet for a moment, collecting her thoughts together. "Well, this might sound strange to you, but... don't you think some of you guys are too young to be dating...?"

Rena leaned forward. "Too young?"

"I mean, you're in middle school. An eighth grader. You're not even in high school yet. Some of the kids here have even been dating since elementary school. Hasn't it ever come to your mind that maybe the aspect of you trying to experience the idea of a real relationship at such a young age is just too soon? And also, you have to admit that it sounds pretty silly hearing prepubescent teens talking about such adult things."

Rena paused. She locked eyes again with the water, pondering in deep contemplation. Aisha worried that maybe her question had been a bit too far fetched, but then Rena responded.

"I definitely can't lie about your point," she said, "that maybe we aren't old enough to be dating responsibly. Sheesh, I probably should've thought of it that way sooner." She looked back at Aisha, staring into her eyes. "Maybe it is smarter to date in high school, isn't it? People are more mature; they've figured out who they are and who they want to be; that'd be a perfect time to find people who are right for you..."

Aisha smiled. At first, she had thought that Rena was just a dumb-blonde who only cared about what others thought of her, but she was actually a lot smarter than she looked. "Yeah, exactly. In that case, you'd be better off saving yourself for high school so you can find someone who perfectly suits your liking instead of someone who only has superficial appeal. See what I mean?"

Rena grinned, her white straight teeth shining cheekily at her. "Yeah, I do. Man, you're smart. I should talk with you more often, maybe that'd influence me to start getting on top of my grades again."

"Ahh ha ha," Aisha laughed, but deep down, she could feel her heartbeat pounding out of her chest at the idea of the two of them becoming friends. "Y-Your friends would ask you why you were talking to a nerd though, they'd probably tell you to stop talking to me," she noted, a twinge of sadness in her voice.

"Fuck what they think." Aisha looked up quickly, hearing the new determination in Rena's tone. When she saw her face, it was marked by an emotion that she didn't see often on someone usually so pretty and soft; rebellion. "I've put up with enough of people's shit these past few years," she said darkly. "If they can't handle me talking to someone who doesn't wear dresses or makeup, then they'll have to deal with it; because I don't care."

And with that, she rose out of the water, droplets flying off of her. Then she walked through the spring over to Aisha, reaching under to grab her hand and pull her to her feet. "Come on, there's one more thing we have to do tonight before we go back to the hotel room," she told her.

"W-What now?" Aisha asked unsurely.

Rena raised an eyebrow and held Aisha's gaze in hers warmly. "The water fountain in the courtyard."

* * *

When they stepped out of the hot springs and into the changing rooms, quickly drying themselves, Aisha took her clothes out of one of the lockers and started undoing her bikini top, but Rena stopped her. "We don't have enough time to change right now," she said. "Just cover them up in a towel and carry it with you; we'll get dressed back at the hotel room."

Although reluctant, Aisha did as she was told and attempted to neatly hold her hoodie, t-shirt, underwear, socks, and jeans into one of the white towels left lying around on, putting her hat on top last and then bundling them up together in the thick fabric.

They slipped out of the changing rooms and back into the hallways, this time going up a magnificent staircase, their bare feet leaving sweaty footprints on the floors. This time, instead of Rena walking ahead and pulling Aisha along like how they had entered the hot springs, now they walked side by side; but just like how they had left their room, their hands were clasped together, linking the two as they turned left and right through the seemingly endless labyrinth.

It didn't take too long before they reached the indoor courtyard, and if it wasn't pretty during the day, it was even more so during the night. The tall glass windows that reached the ceiling cast opalescent, iridescent shadows across the ground. The pearly moon was up, glancing down at them from its perch in the indigo-colored sky. The water fountain, located in the very center, stood tall and proud, each of its multiple tiered basins carrying clear water. It projected gentle shots of it right up into the air, forming parabolas of droplets that cascaded and scattered onto the lowest, and largest, level of the fountain. The only thing keeping the huge amount of water was the short, white, tiled stony wall on the first level, holding it all in and then draining it back into several pipes so they would shoot up again.

It was such a lovely sight that Aisha and Rena stopped in their tracks once arriving in the courtyard, and stood silently from far away, watching this spellbinding spectacle. It was something so stunning, something they would never see anything like it anywhere else, especially in Velder. Aisha was so amazed she could feel her jaw dropping.

"It's mind-blowing, isn't it?" Rena murmured.

Aisha swallowed and nodded in agreement. "It's breathtaking."

Her mind was then brought back to the present, and she turned to Rena. "Wait, but why are we here anyway?" she asked. "Did we just come here for the view?"

Rena laughed lightly. "I kinda wish we had only come here just to see it, just because it's so romantic." Aisha's fingers twitched as her cheeks turned red at that last word. "But the real reason is actually a little embarrassing."

Aisha tilted her head. "Embarrassing?"

Rena briefly let go of Aisha's hand, scratching her head. "Well, you'll have to believe me about this one, but I actually dropped my phone in there."

...

"I was fooling around and walking around it, and I slipped in and it tumbled out of my pocket," Rena explained. "I forgot to go and get it because Elsword started arguing with me."

"You dropped your phone in a water fountain," Aisha repeated.

Rena's docile face hardened and she glared at her. "You making fun of me?" she asked.

She couldn't hold it in, because in seconds, Aisha burst out laughing. She dropped her towel bundle to the floor and put both hands to her mouth to try and cover up the noise, leaning forward as her eyes were closed shut, shaking slightly as the laughs just poured out of her. Just as she was about to stand back up, still snickering, Rena slapped her on the back of her head, pushing her forward and she fell on her knees.

"H-Hey," she protested, wiping a small tear away from her eye. She looked up to see Rena scowling, her arms crossed and her head turned away, but it was obvious that her cheeks were pink with humiliation.

"You know, I thought you of all people would understand the most, but you're reacting like an asshole," Rena grumbled.

"Look, I'm sorry," Aisha told her, but her entertained expression gave away any chance of a full-hearted apology. "It just took me by surprise, that's all..." She stood back up on both feet and put a hand on Rena's shoulder, comforted to feel her warm skin under her palm. Thankfully, she didn't brush it away.

Rena sighed. "Let's just go look for it." She put her towel wrap next to Aisha's on the ground and reached up to grab her wrist, leading her closer towards the fountain.

What was nice about this fountain was that the noise of it wasn't so overwhelmingly loud like other ones. The falling of the water was more soft and gentle, rather than sharp and distracting. Even when they walked nearer towards it, Aisha could still hear the sound of their footsteps making a small echo across the walls of the room. When they got right next to the lowest basin, Rena peered inside of it. The height of the wall went up to their waists.

"Oh, there it is." She pointed at the dark blue and black object that lay at the very bottom, too far from their reach. "I'll have to climb in to go get it," she muttered.

"I don't think this is an interactive fountain though," Aisha said nervously. "You can't just climb in..."

Rena shrugged. "Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. And besides, no one's here. It shouldn't take that long." And without hesitation, she tossed a leg up and over the wall and hauled herself up, crouching momentarily on the top of the basin before dipping a foot in and standing up in the water, knee-deep.

"Hey, it's actually not that cold," Rena observed, turning to look down at Aisha below her. She then took a few slow steps forward and bent over, reaching down into the water, Aisha looking away awkwardly. When she arose back to full height, she held the iPhone in one of her hands, giving Aisha a successful smile. "Got it."

Aisha smiled back as Rena turned her back to her again, staring straight up at the tip of the water fountain. "Man though, this feels incredible," she said aloud. She tucked her phone into the right side of her bikini bottom and raised her arms above her head, widening her stance. Just as one of her fingers touched the tip of her bun, she yanked on the hairtie tightening it together at its base and pulled it off, her hair falling down and swinging in as bits of water rained lightly over her head.

The sight of her was astonishing. Aisha couldn't help but look at her up and down; her long legs, her wide hips, her little waist, her toned arms. She looked like a deity, an idol, a queen: her almost godly presence stole the eyes of everyone, her very being so pure. As the fountain cast water around her, it seemed magical, mystical, like there was a powerful yet elegant energy emanating from her. The shadows from the windows reflected light in the droplets that felt and burst when making contact with her body. She was so beautiful, gorgeous even, attractive in every way. Her eyes felt heavier, as if she was in a dreamy trance from seeing this girl.

Rena turned around, one leg bent and the other straight, staring down at her from where she stood. She smiled, seeing Aisha watching her calmly. Then she walked closer to the edge and reached her hand out. And Aisha took it without any reluctance.

She was hoisted up into the fountain, and she tripped slightly into the lukewarm water, falling a little into Rena. She laughed and secured her hands on Aisha's elbows, holding her steady, and Aisha couldn't help but do the same. When she looked up, their eyes locked, and their gaze didn't falter or waver for even a moment. They moved to the left and right, swaying from side to side. "It's kinda like we're slowdancing," Rena said, her smile still there on her face. Aisha blushed, but her eyes wouldn't avoid hers.

They eventually sat down beside each other, sitting on the edge of the walls of the basin, leaning forward and admiring being a part of the pretty view in a tranquil silence. Rena looked over at Aisha and held her hand out to her hair, pulling on her bun. Aisha looked to her in surprise as her hair fell down past her shoulders, her bangs flying into her face.

"What'd you do that for?" Aisha asked, pushing her hair behind her ears. She almost choked when Rena started feeling out her hair, holding a lock and rubbing it softly between her fingers. When Aisha quickly looked up from Rena's hand and up to her eyes, her gaze seemed distracted, like she was focusing all of her attention on the brief, temporary thick ringlet.

"Your hair is soft," she said, playing with it by twirling it around her fingers. "Is it like this naturally?" she asked, looking back up at Aisha. "It feels really good."

Suddenly Aisha could feel her heart in her throat and she was soon stuttering over her own thoughts. "I-It... U-Uhh..."

Rena grinned. "You get nervous so easily," she teased, letting go of Aisha's hair and poking her cheek, a storm of tingles sent from her touch through Aisha's face. "That's so funny." When she looked forward back at the fountain again, her voice sounded less enthusiastic and more somber. "Boys will like that about you."

The tingly sensation in Aisha's cheek disappeared, and she looked away from Rena, looking back at the fountain too. "Then that'll probably be the only thing they'll like about me," she murmured, letting out a half-hearted laugh.

Rena turned back to her. "Well you never know. Some guys might have a thing for flat-chested girls."

It was like a lightning bolt struck right from the sky, through the ceiling, and straight through Aisha's back and into her heart. She had always been especially sensitive about her chest and she had never picked a fight with someone about it, but she wasn't ready to hold back any more. It was a blow to her courage, a blow to her self-confidence, and also, a harsh blow to her mood.

Without thinking for a moment about any consequences to her actions whatsoever, Aisha's hand shot through Rena's blond hair to her back, and yanked hard on the strings holding her bikini top together.

* * *

"I know it's one thing to say you have no boobs, but it's another thing to respond to it by deciding to pull my fucking bikini top off," Rena snapped as the two tiredly stumbled into their hotel room, their towel-wrapped clothes in hand.

"Well sorry about that, but you kinda deserved it, Miss Double-Ds," Aisha returned angrily, tossing her towel bundle onto the floor by her bed.

"Oh, so this is about my body now?!" Rena demanded, glaring at her from her bed. "Does it bother you that much that my chest happens to be bigger than yours?! I'll have you know that it's a lot harder to have big boobs, you know. I have back pain, I can't lie on my stomach, and boys will never stop ogling at them because I can't cover them up for shit!"

"At least you have sex appeal!" Aisha spat. "Do you know how annoying it is to be teased for having a washboard of a chest and no physical appeal whatsoever? That's exactly what my life is like! I literally have the body of an eight-year old boy, and while you complain about having problems with your enormous rack, feel lucky that you don't get mistaken for a tall elementary school student on purpose!"

Rena glowered, but she averted her gaze away. "Well, I'm sorry about that, but the least you can do is give me a real apology."

"Fine." Aisha attempted to regain her composure and put her hands on her hips, thinking a moment, before finally staring at Rena in the eye. "Rena, I am really sorry for pulling off your bikini top and exposing you without your permission. It was completely a spur-of-the-moment incident and I personally didn't think you would take it so badly."

"'Didn't think I would take it so badly?!' Aisha, that was textbook-level sexual harassment!"

"Okay, okay, I take that back," Aisha sighed. She softened her tone, trying to give her voice full meaning. "Just forget what I said in the last sentence; I'm sorry for what I did."

For some reason, Rena was silent. She had put her bikini top back on, and her hair was still down, a protective curtain over her back. Her arms were crossed, and she was still scowling, her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes turned to ground near her left foot. She seemed fatigued and her cheeks were still a rosy pink from when her top came off at the water fountain, but there was something holding her back from saying her worst, as if something was telling her to bite back her words and say something else.

When she looked up, she looked upset, but not like she was on the verge of tears. Aisha waited almost expectantly for her to say something. But instead of speaking, Rena walked around her bed and around Aisha's, and much to her surprise, giving her a hug. Her arms went around her waist, her chest leaning into hers, and her chin resting on her shoulder. Aisha was speechless, feeling Rena against her like this, but then she reciprocated, putting her arms around her too.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Rena said quietly. "And thanks for apologizing."

Aisha swallowed, but she tightened her embrace in return. "I'm sorry for yelling too."

They were quiet, holding each other silently: even despite not being close friends, the hug felt right.

“You know what I like about you most, Aisha?” Rena asked.

“W-What?”

She smiled, an almost dark sadness in her eyes. “You actually care about how others feel.” 

 

Finally, Rena let go, the two dressed into their pajamas, brushed their teeth at the same time, and went to bed, falling asleep just as their heads hit the pillow, exhausted from the day's events.

 

 


	4. Work Reports & Evening Cuddles

"Come on, hurry up, food. I don't have all day..."

It was a warm Tuesday afternoon in Velder University, the sun rising ever so slowly after the beautiful sunrise from that early morning. The weather was fairly reasonable and almost surprising for a summer day at 4PM, the temperature being hot enough for some to shed their coats and bask in the rays from above, but still cold enough for others to keep on a few of their winter layers. The campus wasn't quite beaming with life like it usually was, but there were still many sightings of its degree-earning prisoners, the premises crawling with tired, unhappy students dragging themselves out of bed to attend summer courses.

As for Rena, she had started her day by sleeping in until 10:30AM and getting up for a nice, nutritious breakfast of ramen. As caloric as it was and as unhealthy as it seemed, no one in school was wealthy enough to go out and cook a decent meal, so everyone just ate whatever they could get their hands on: which was cups upon cups of dollar-worth ramen.

Rena didn't seem to have had any appointments to hang out with her friends, so she thought she might as well stay in the dorm room all day and have it to herself. She had spent her day by surfing the Internet, watching TV, playing video games, and cleaning out her closet, an event which would later turn into a game of trying on Aisha's clothes and seeing how hard it was to fit into shirts that had little to no room in the top section. She decided to lounge around in something maybe more permanent, and settled finally into one of Aisha's black Fall Out Boy t-shirts from high school and a short white skirt to give her sweaty legs some breathing room. Once she was done, the mess had spread to the area outside the closet, scattered with random clothes that she wasn't in the mood to put away.

It was only then, at 4:16PM, that a miserable Aisha opened the door and shuffled into their dorm room, dressed in a business formal outfit with a heavy-looking shoulder bag slung over her arm. "I'm home," she sighed, locking the door behind her.

"Oooo, you're looking sharp!" Rena looked up from her comfy spot on the bed, her phone in one hand and the TV remote in the other. She was leaning on her side, balancing herself up with her elbow resting against the covers, her legs folded up together. She smirked as she watched Aisha set down her bag on the floor by the doorway and tossed her blazer to the edge of the swivel chair. "You should keep that on, it makes you even cuter to look at."

Aisha turned her back to her. "Take a good look at it now, because it's coming off in a few seconds."

"What?!" Rena demanded, as soon as Aisha started unbuttoning her white shirt, tearing the garment off her shoulders and on to the bed beside the blonde, exposing her gray lace bra. "Whoa, no tank top today, huh," Rena observed out of the corner of her eye, her gaze now focused back on the TV. "So how was work today?"

"It was terrible," Aisha responded, her tone more dark and serious. "We had a long meeting about stocks and the boss gave me more work to do because he didn't like my stupid report. So now I have to rewrite it because it's not professional enough."

"That Add, what a dick," Rena grumbled. "I say the term 'dick' affectionately," she added quickly. "I don't mind the guy, he's nice, but he's still kind of an ass."

"He means well," Aisha replied, although she didn't seem too convinced about the statement herself. She replaced her jeans with the pair of Rena's shorts that she had tossed on the floor when switching to her skirt instead, and threw on a t-shirt from the mess that Rena had made outside of their closet.

Once she sat down on her swivel chair at her desk and flipped open her laptop to get to work, Rena couldn't help but pout. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I need to work," Aisha said, already opening a new document and starting to type everything again for her report from scratch, fingers speeding across the keyboard.

"You can't just start working now," Rena protested. "You're tired! Tired people don't work efficiently, you know."

Aisha didn't look back at her. "Yeah, but if I don't start it now, I'll never finish it."

Rena snorted. "Look, you're cranky, you've had a tough day, and you're feeling overworked, and while that's perfectly normal for someone who works a job like yours, that doesn't mean I'm going to let you feel that way any longer." Then she put her hands out and made a beckoning motion with her fingers, as if calling her over with her mouth closed. "Now come here."

Aisha turned her swivel chair over to face Rena and put her elbow against the arm of her chair, leaning into her fist. "What do you want?" she asked dismally.

"Just come over here," Rena repeated. "I want you to get off your chair, walk over to this bed, and sit down with me." She smiled. "And we'll relieve some of your stress together, okay?"

Aisha narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking you're gonna say, then I'm not gonna leave this desk for the rest of the night."

Rena laughed. "Do I look like I'm asking for sex right now?"

"You always do," Aisha muttered to herself.

She pretended she didn't hear that. "Aisha, come on," Rena moaned. "Just sit here and cuddle with me for a little! What harm is that gonna do?!"

Aisha sighed, digging her fist deeper into her cheek, silent.

"Ugh, fine. If you won't do as I say then I'll have to use force." Rena stood up from the bed and headed over to the swivel chair, grabbing Aisha by the arms and trying to tug her to her feet. "Rena, stop!" Aisha groaned, trying to yank her grip off of her, but Rena was too stubborn. She heaved and heaved, as Aisha struggled aggressively, until finally she released one arm and reached out to hook an arm around her back and pulled her off of the chair.

A violent tumble shoved the two off their balance and back on to the bed, when finally, Aisha gave in and, somewhat irritatedly, settled down on the bed with Rena.

"How long do I have to do this?" Aisha grumbled, Rena's arm tucked around her waist and the left side of her face resting against her collarbone. One of her arms snaked underneath Rena's lower back while the other sat across her stomach. They were both lying horizontally on the bed, leaning against a big body pillow propping themselves up, facing the TV screen. Rena's other hand meanwhile was holding an opened glass bottle of soda, which she would take a swig of every so often.

"As long as you need to," Rena replied, gulping a few more swallows of her bubbly drink. Aisha didn't think much of it and focused her attention back on the TV, featuring a marathon of some popular sitcom that aired every night. Girl B seemed to currently be dating Guy C, Guy A was about to have an enthusiastic one night stand with Girl C, while Girl A and Guy B were about to get married. The usual, typical romantic comedy.

As each episode flew by, Aisha felt herself growing more tired and tired by the minute. The two had had a large meal of microwave pizza, still while on the bed, and after a tall mug of hot chocolate, she was starting to get a little sleepy. She yawned, tightening her grip on Rena and pulling her legs up so her knees were almost on top of Rena's thighs. Rena pulled Aisha in closer and took another swig of her third soda. She held the bottle to Aisha's face. "Want some?" she asked.

"Sure," Aisha mumbled drowsily, fitting her lips onto the bottle tip and drinking some as Rena tilted the other end upward so the soda would flow down. Once she had her taste and Rena raised the bottle back up so she could have her fill, Aisha peeked over at the shirt Rena was wearing. "Is that my shirt?"

Rena swallowed down another drink. "You didn't notice before? I thought you knew already," she noted, touching her chin to Aisha's head. "It's one of your old band t-shirts from high school, remember?" Her tone sounded amused, as if reflecting on how they had been as teenagers.

Aisha laughed. "Elsword gave me that shirt in sophomore year," she said, tracing a finger along the big "Fall Out Boy" font written in cursive on Rena's belly. "I got him a matching one in a men's size and we wore them together when we went to see the group at a concert."

"I wonder how Elsword is doing, anyway," Rena wondered, briefly setting her bottle down and resting its base on the covers, her fist still clamped around its neck. "Do you remember which college he decided to go to? I thought he said he was going to Chung's or something."

"Yeah, he's at Hamel Community College trying to get some special associate's degree," Aisha responded, tugging lightly at the hem of the shirt, gazing at its pretty print. "Once he's done there, he'll transfer to some big university later on. Where that is, I have no idea."

Rena giggled and took another drink from the bottle, now half-full. "He's just kinda going with it, isn't he? Hilarious." She lowered herself so she could rest her head more against Aisha's. "We should go visit him some day. Just to see what he's up to."

"Maybe I'll text him later." Aisha leaned against Rena's shoulder. "He's probably not too busy anyway. He never did his homework in high school, he probably doesn't do it these days either."

"Sounds just like him," Rena laughed.

The two snuggled closer together as episode after episode of the sitcom rolled on and on, the marathon still hardly coming to a close. Once the clock hit 9PM, the show was still playing on the channel. But no one was in the mood to reach for the remote and change to a different station; the two were in too much of a comfortable position to want to move.

* * *

When Aisha awoke at 1AM, she was surprised to see that nothing in the room had been touched. The lights were still on, the TV was still buzzing, but instead of there being a gentle horizon colored with orange and red, the sky was black and dotted in white stars. The moon's pearlescent form rose clear up into the sky, glowing through the window glass and casting light on to the carpet inside the dorm room.

As for her position, she found her head resting on Rena's stomach, her legs stretched out over the end of the bed. Speaking of Rena, the girl was snoring away, her head thrown back over the top of the body pillow and her empty soda bottle lying weakly by her limp hand.

With the digital clock giving away the time, Aisha sighed, wiping away some of the sleep from her eyes. "Now I'm really not gonna finish my report," she muttered.

* * *


	5. Short Skirts & T-Shirts

"God, why does school have to start so early...?"

A formidable question it was. The current time of the day was so early in the morning that the sun had hardly even arisen over the skies. If there was even a sun to be seen; nothing but thick, dark gray clouds blanketed over what little light could shed through. It was fairly overcast weather, normal for 7:20AM in the morning, deep down in the very outskirts of Velder. The barren countryside filled with corn fields were originally thriving and prosperous buildings that marked a proud civilization; but they had been destroyed due to wars in the past. Since then, the central government of Velder had decided that the best thing to do otherwise was to turn it into farmland, creating tiny little towns for the people who had lost their homes, and giving money to farmers who could take care of the crops. The families of these fathers had been living there for almost centuries now, generation after generation taking their turn at cultivating food. Because of this development, the area had a pungent smell of fertilizer and manure; a stench that would be carried across Lurensia on its powerful yet gentle winds.

At this time, a tired, groggy, and sleepy high school student, with an enormous black shoulder bag and a trademark red hairstyle, trudged along a lengthy concrete path, long and wide, designed for big heavy trucks carrying animals and soil to transport their goods from the city to the country in safe circumstances. It was also a road used to bus students to school; students who happened to live out on the outskirts were always still enrolled automatically to Velder High School, so it was necessary that they woke up early in the morning and waited at a tiny little bus stop sitting off the side of the road for a big vehicle to drive by and take them to the campus. While this was efficient for the school system and showed that they cared about the attendance of their teenage youth, it was tedious and annoying for the said kids who had to get up at 6AM and walk an hour or longer down the dangerous road, whilst their busy parents worked the fields.

Elsword yawned, running a hand through his greasy, unwashed hair, before shoving his hands back into the pockets of his school blazer and gazing out into the distance, his eyes locked on the box-shaped bus stop that was only another few meters ahead of him. As he neared in closer, slowing his steps, he could spot another person standing in it: a guy with light brown hair and a matching light brown and navy uniform similar to his own. When his head turned, he had the most piercing cyan blue eyes he had ever seen, and his lips pulled into a smile as he waved at him.

"Hey, Chung," Elsword greeted him, less formally than he probably should have as he mumbled over his words.

"Hi, Elsword." The transfer student from freshman year, more tough and full-grown since when they had first met each other, stepped to the side to give Elsword some room as he stood in beside him. "Aisha isn't with you today?"

Elsword shook his head, wiping his nose against his sleeve. "Nope. She wasn't at our usual spot when I left the house, so I just went without her." He glanced at Chung, his eyes more alert. "How was your walk here?"

Chung shrugged. "Not too good. My foster dad had to drag me out of bed," he recalled, letting out a laugh. "It was kind of embarrassing, actually. He kept asking me if all members of royalty had trouble waking up too."

"Well, if a commoner has trouble getting out of bed, why not a prince?" Elsword leaned his back against the wall of the bus stop, crossing his arms and staring over the road and to the fields behind it. "Do your parents still regret letting you go to a regular high school instead of one of the big fancy ones back in Hamel?"

"They never really let me go in the first place," he laughed. "I just kind of decided I didn't want to go to my current high school anymore, so I ordered the principal to transfer me out to Velder after being a month in. And now, all my parents do is just complain and complain." Chung sighed. "I thought it was a better decision to let me choose where I wanted to go to school. But even when they send me letters, it’s always about student openings in bigger schools made for richer, smarter kids. If only they understood how awful those places can be..."

"Damn, that sucks." Elsword chuckled. "Then again, our school's not much better either. Have you even _seen_ the amount of kids who get away with smoking weed in class? Some of them even do it in the hallways, it's almost embarrassing just to watch them."

Chung smiled, a far-away, distant look in his eyes. "You'd be surprised."

Suddenly, his eyes were caught off-guard by something off down the road, and he pointed at it. "Hey, look." When Elsword turned, he spotted a figure, walking towards them. As it approached, they realized it was a girl, dressed in a Velder High uniform and carrying a similar shoulder bag, her arm resting on top of it, her short pleated skirt swaying in the breeze. As she came even closer, they knew immediately who it was once they recognized the long-ish purple hair, grown out to her shoulder blades, worn in a pigtail on either side of her head. Her eyes were half-open, and she looked more like she had just rolled out of bed than awake.

"Oh, it's Aisha," Elsword noted, then lifting a hand out of his pocket and waving at her. "Good morning!"

Aisha yawned momentarily and raised one of her arms out too.

"'Morning..." 

* * *

 

"Ariel! I got all the new class lists for this semester printed out!"

Camilla paced quickly over to Ariel, who sat over her laptop screen, observing the new semester's budget on the multiple spreadsheets that Luriel had sent her a few nights before. She looked up from her computer to the feisty vice president, who grinned as she handed her a packet of stapled papers, listing the new classes of the year, divided by freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. Ariel smiled, tossing her golden-haired ponytail back over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows.

"You did? Awesome!" She took a moment to study the student lists for each class, before quickly looking back up at her again to catch something. "And you remembered to give the new schedules to each homeroom teacher, right?"

Camilla laughed. "Actually, we're supposed to give them to the homeroom class representatives," she corrected her, "and that's exactly what I did yesterday when we called in those guys for that meeting. The one you couldn't make it to?"

Ariel sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, I had some other things to deal with! I have a life outside of school too, you know!"

"Hearing that from the supposedly all-responsible student council president who puts the school's matters first doesn't sound too right," Camilla noted, and Ariel pressed her palm into her face with exasperation as she returned to the work at hand on her screen.

The Velder High School's Student Council was especially busy that morning, having to choose to go meet on campus before school began, as it was the start of the new semester; grades had to be reset, new projects had to be planned, and most importantly, individual student schedules had to be changed to accommodate new classes and new electives. Considering that there was little to no vacation time in between the two semesters, the student council had to work day and night in that little time space approximately the size of a weekend to organize everything and make the transition from one semester to the next a smooth one.

"Well, thanks for handling that, that's some really efficient planning on your part," Ariel responded, averting her gaze back up to Camilla. "Has Glave begun managing the timetable for those emergency fire, earthquake, and lockdown drills?" she asked.

"I don't know, we're still in the process of updating the school's digital online calendar," Camilla grumbled, crossing her arms. "And even THAT'S supposed to get printed! Who's idea was it to print every resource for the students?! Not only is it a waste of paper, but it's also a pain in the ass."

Ariel bit her lip. "I have no clue, but right now, we need to be almost done! School starts in another hour, and we have to be working quickly." Her brows furrowed. "Okay, contact Glave right now and tell him to hurry it up; he has to put the emergency drills on the calendar soon and if not this instant then right when the bell rings."

Camilla nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket, going through her contacts list and calling Glave. She turned around and dismissed Ariel, allowing her to return to her work. Just as she walked out the door of the student council office, Luriel stumbled in, her laptop and binder cradled in her chest. "I'm so sorry I'm late!" she cried out, rushing over to Ariel's desk. "Did you get the spreadsheets I sent you for the school's budget? I divided and modified them out to the best of my ability... Are there any complaints?"

Ariel shook her head. "No, they look perfect. And I'm glad you came just in time, because I need you to go over the donations from our last gala; they weren't accounted into the total I sent you, unfortunately. See how they can be integrated into the spreadsheets you made, okay?"

"Right!" Luriel sat down at her desk and opened up her laptop, working away in seconds. 

* * *

 

"Yo," Aisha said calmly, balling her hand into a fist and holding it up by her face.

"Yo," Elsword responded, doing the same. The two tapped their fists lightly together into a casual fistbump, before pulling back their wrists and wiggling their fingers, making the effect of an explosion after its impact, adding in an extra 'fwooosh' noise with their mouths.

"Hey, Chung, how you doing?" Aisha asked, standing in between Elsword and him.

Chung smiled nervously. "Uh, I'm good, how are you?"

"Exhausted," Aisha grumbled, scratching her forehead. She turned, slightly more agitated, to her red-headed friend. "I'm pissed, you know," she snapped. "You didn't wait for me at the regular spot, you dick. Is it too much to ask for you to just sit still and stand by until I get there?"

Elsword scowled. "Well, sorry, but I wasn't in the mood to putter around outside waiting for you while you're busy hobbling about in your house trying to put your underwear over your uniform or pouring your cereal in your bag instead of in your bowl."

Chung gulped, while Aisha just scoffed. "Pssshhhhh, I never do that," she replied sarcastically, brushing off the rude comment. "Only once every two days, of course."

"Exactly," Elsword laughed.

As the two continued to talk, conversing about the new events for the semester, Chung awkwardly shuffled in the corner of the bus stop, seeming to listen in on their conversation, but only slightly. Finally, he interrupted, trying not to sound intrusive, but his comment would sound that way anyway.

"Umm, this might seem rude to ask, but... are you guys dating...?" he asked quietly.

The two stopped talking, turning their full attention to the Seiker prince, who quickly melted under the pressure and fidgeted uncomfortably. They both grinned, raising each an eyebrow at the Hamel-born transfer student. Aisha laughed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, Chung, you sweet ol’ guy," she began, shaking her head in disbelief before stepping over up close to him and staring at him deeply in the eye. Chung stammered under his breath as his cheeks began to redden, their faces so close he could feel her hot breath on his lips. "Did you really think I was actually just a typical hetero?"

Chung wasn't sure how to respond to this. What did she mean by 'hetero'? "I-I'm sorry, but w-what...?"

Aisha sighed. "See, the thing is is that-"

"Aisha is gay as fuck," Elsword interjected.

There was a little pause. "Well that ruined my explanation," Aisha muttered bitterly.

"'Made it a hell of a lot simpler," Elsword returned.

Chung didn't answer immediately, but as he started to take the information in, his face grew pale like a ghost's. His jaw dropped only slightly, and he didn't seem horrified or terrified at the fact, but more shocked and surprised about it. "So... you're... a lesbian...?"

Aisha grinned as she fingered a cheesy peace sign. "Yup, that's me."

He narrowed his eyes momentarily. "So... you don't like boys...?"

She tilted her head. "Well, not in a romantic or sexual way, if that's what you're asking. I could never really do that, you know? That doesn't mean I can't be friends with them, obviously." She elbowed Elsword in the ribs.

Chung was quiet for a moment, and he was noticeably quiet for the rest of their wait at the bus stop, as well as the rest of the ride when the school bus finally came along to pick them up and drive them to the school. Aisha and Elsword sat beside him in the back of the bus, talking and talking, while he stared, almost sadly, out the window and out at the fields that were transitioning into city.

The bus entered through the gates of Velder High School, and the amount of teenagers who had accumulated into the vehicle filed out and were released onto the school campus, ten minutes before classes were bound to start. As the trio walked out and into the sunlight, Chung, now seeming somewhat more miserable than sad, said goodbye to the two friends and stalked off to his locker, looking like a raincloud was above his head.

"Hey, what's up with Chung?" Aisha observed, entering the school's main building.

"I think he was disappointed," Elsword responded, following after her.

"Disappointed?" she asked.

"Well yeah." He turned around and pointed back towards Chung's direction, who was still walking sorrowfully and unhappily away. "You know how when guys get turned down by the girls they like? They always do that same walk-of-shame right after." They both watched carefully as he walked dejectedly. "That's what it looks like."

Aisha studied the poor guy treading farther and farther, almost feeling pitiful as she watched him go. "Hm," she said. "Bummer." 

* * *

 

As the fourth bell rang, signifying the end of the second period and the beginning of their fifteen-minute break, Aisha walked out of class, her head filled with unnecessary scientific babble thanks to Chemistry, and joined into the crowd of students packing through the halls, her mind now set on obtaining a quick snack before third period began. Unfortunately for her, the horde of kids only thickened, causing the overall movement as a big group to go slow, and Aisha found herself bumping into two or three more people than she normally had to.

The sudden realization that it was now February and that Valentines Day was approaching quickly came to her, and she started noticing the bills and coins of money clamped tightly in the hands of the students around her, their priorities clearly aimed at the Valentine’s Day Love Stand located down the hallway. The Valentine’s Day Love Stand was an annual tradition, in which people, with the right amount of money, could buy bouquets of roses and boxes of chocolate, and send them to their crush. A group hired by the student council would then take these ordered gifts and deliver them to their future owners. It was a project meant to earn extra money for the school budget, while also encouraging students to be more outgoing and open about their romantic interests; an odd objective at that, many believed.

The topic of love was one that amused Aisha more than anything, considering that love had basically ruined some of her closest friendships. Even before her somewhat intimate but un-romantic encounter with hot-and-sexy Rena on the eighth grade field trip, she had found herself questioning who and what she liked just as she started high school. She began feeling her heart flutter every time the tall and beautiful junior Ara Haan would pass by her during class, and her breath holding itself in when she would speak to her. Especially after they had made out in the multi-stalled girls bathroom at a school dance when Ara had gotten drunk. It became a lot harder to decide whether she was into boys, or whether she was into girls.

Freshman year marked the very year when Aisha had finally come to terms with her orientation and had become more confident about her sexuality. Confident in a way where she wasn't constantly flaunting it to her peers, but confident in a way where she was accepting and content about it. She had been tired of hiding who she was and wanted to be more comfortable with herself and her identity.

Unfortunately, coming out hadn’t had the best consequences... but that was a matter she wasn’t in the mood to think about.

Aisha tapped her fingers across the top of her shoulderbag impatiently, looking out for the door to the courtyard that led to the vending machines outside. She slipped her other hand down her pocket, feeling around for some cash that could buy her a candy bar or another kind of snack along those similar lines. Luckily, she felt the crisp edges of a folded dollar bill, and savored that short moment of triumph that she no longer had to wait an even longer amount of time to get to her locker for money instead.

At the same time, she felt a buzz in her other pocket, signifying that her phone was going off. Aisha dug her other hand into her other pocket and pulled out her smartphone, noticing that she had a new text, another from Elsword. She typed in her pass code and opened up the texting application to her chats with Elsword, ignoring the bombarded groups of wild texts sent from a grumpy Aisha earlier that morning when she hadn't found him outside waiting for her.

     Elsword: hey where r u

She looked up momentarily at numbers above the nearby classroom doors, before quickly focusing back on her phone screen.

     Aisha: trying 2 get thru the crowd, im headed 4 the courtyard  
     Elsword: k ill meet u there

Eventually, Aisha stumbled through the mass of love-seeking students and finally out into the outdoor air once passing through the doors. She ignored the extensive amounts of couples making out peacefully in the calm and tranquil environment, and headed for the vending machines. She fumbled with her money and managed to successfully purchase a bag of salty chips, choosing savory over sweet for once. Just as she yanked the bag open, a hand that wasn't hers shoved itself inside and grabbed a bunch of chips for themselves.

"Hey!" Aisha protested, looking up to see Elsword stuffing the salty pieces of crisp potato down his mouth.

"Thanks," Elsword replied, not too clearly as he was talking while he ate. Bits and pieces of chips spewed out from his lips; chewing with his mouth open was a habit that Aisha disliked just as much as everyone else. She smacked him across the side of his head and he tripped over, his hands going to his mouth to keep the food in.

"I told you that you're not supposed to chew with your mouth open anymore!" Aisha sighed, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

"I didn't come to talk to you about proper hygiene, Aisha," Elsword grumbled, adjusting his back and standing back up to full height, an inch or two taller than her. "Did you get your new schedule in homeroom for first period this morning?"

"Of course I did." Aisha flipped open the cover on her shoulder bag and pulled out a slightly-crumpled sheet of paper. "They just did the same thing as last year: switch some classes around and put some kids in new ones. My Chemistry class was filled with almost completely new people compared to my last one."

"Same," Elsword agreed.

"What's your next class?"

"Geometry." Aisha regarded her new schedule. "Same teacher though. Ms. Helen's great. You?"

"English." Elsword frowned, wiping away some miniature chip flakes from around his mouth and under his nose. "We're probably gonna start a new book, which means another whole unit of stupid analysis on plot and character development. I can't even handle another semester of the stuff, it's awful."

"Just pretend you're taking notes the whole time, it's no big deal," she assured him.

"Yeah, but that's what they WANT you to do," he asserted boldly, shaking a finger from a fist to further emphasize his point. "I'd end up taking notes on the damn thing anyway because what else are you supposed to take notes on? Nothing! Except that fucking piece of 'extraordinary ancient literature'."

"Well who knows, maybe taking real notes might actually do you some good, Elsword."

"That's easy for you to say, Miss Smart-Ass," he grumbled.

"Shut up," she recoiled agitatedly.

Soon enough, the bell rang: time for third period. Aisha folded her schedule into quarters and slipped it into her pocket, then shoving the hardly-touched bag of chips into Elsword's hands. "Take the chips, I can't eat in Ms. Helen's class anyway." Without letting him respond, she passed by him and back through the doors to the cramped school hallway, this time setting her sights on making it to math class on time. 

* * *

 

"Hello, class, and welcome to the new semester." Ms. Helen, one of two Geometry teachers in the whole school, stood quietly at the front of the classroom, her back facing the whiteboards and her front facing the group of unmotivated, un-eager high school students, definitely not ready to learn.

The infamous math room of Velder High School was a well-known torture chamber for teenagers both smart and dumb. Its walls were covered with motivational posters and helpful equation practices, as well as artwork, either done by the teachers or the students themselves, which was usually the most exquisite pieces left to offer, used to embellish the sides of the white prison cage.

To Aisha, the course itself wasn't that bad; she'd been pretty terrific at math since learning basic arithmetic in kindergarten. If anything, the worst she had ever gotten on her math tests were 85 to 90%; otherwise, her scores were quite high. And she didn't mind the teachers either; Ms. Helen was nice enough, and Mr. Lenphad, although strict and noisy, did a good job at explaining the problems that even _she_ didn't understand since being a freshman. Sometimes, she didn't comprehend why everyone was so busy complaining about these two fine, good-natured people in the first place; until she realized that it was just because everyone else who took their class was an idiot.

"So as you may know, the classes have been switched up, to give students new, changing environments to adapt to." She shifted her weight on another foot. "And so, we will start today by creating a proper seating chart; because this," she motioned to the seats in front of her, "is not going to work." She waved her hand out, gesturing for everyone to stand up. "You know the rules. Line up on the other side of the room, and I'll call out your name when I point to your respective spot."

The students not-so-very-silently arose from their temporary spots and piled together on the other wall of the room, certain distinct groups forming amongst them. Aisha felt her eye twitch with annoyance as a circle of three giggly, chattery, squealing girls started snickering in shrill bouts of laughter. She grimaced when she recognized two of them, way louder by a milestone than the third one, who was invisible to her view as she was being blocked by the two familiar backs facing her.

_Boy, am I lucky_ , she thought sarcastically to herself. It was none other than the two members of the famous trio themselves; Karis and Chloe. They were two of the three most beautiful, most attractive, and most popular girls in the entire school, known for their millions and millions of friends. Karis was the louder of them both, easily recognized by her pinkish burgundy-red pigtails tied up high on either side of her head, as well as her shrill, evil-like cackle. Chloe was more quiet, but in a sense, the more messed up, being the most sexualized and objectified out of the entire girl population at school, known for her chocolate brown skin and spiky white ponytail. They were like the center of the grade, the ones who all the boys crushed on and the ones who all the girls admired. Hardly anyone hated them, and everyone thought they were cool. Aisha believed it was practically humiliating that these two annoying, sexy bimbos were the school's most loved.

Ms. Helen clapped her hands together. "Alright, everyone, let's get started." She tapped the first desk, closest to the front and closest to her desk. "Richian, you'll sit here."

"Awwwwwww, man!" The class laughed as the familiar, purple-maned hair gel aficionado raised his arms up with pure incredulity. He was one of the guys who spent more time flirting with cute girls than doing anything else, and it was obvious he had his eyes set on the three girls standing together. Richian swaggered off to his new seat, glancing back at Karis and Chloe to see if they were watching him.

The teacher gestured to the seat right next to him. "Karis, you'll sit here."

Karis rolled her eyes, a corner of her glossy lip pulling up in disdain and contempt. "Ugh, do I have to?" she whined.

"I'm afraid you do," Ms. Helen responded shortly.

"Gross," Karis muttered. She let get of Chloe and the other girl's hands and followed him, reluctantly sitting down beside him. "Hey hey hey, well look who decided to join me," Richian observed aloud, pulling a crooked grin.

"Shut up," Karis snapped, flipping a pigtail and pulling out her phone to start texting someone.

"No phones allowed, Karis," Ms. Helen added, grabbing it and taking it out of her hands. "What?!" she spat.

Aisha just crossed her arms and waited, flipping open her schedule to see what her next classes for the day were going to be, simultaneously hiding her scowl. She wasn't in the mood to hear a girl like that complain; she just wanted to sit down with some random person and start learning new equations.

Meanwhile, Ms. Helen kept giving her other classmates their new seats, either hearing a groan of disappointment or a squeal of excitement from each of them when discovering who they were sitting next to. She didn't even have to look up to hear Chloe's moan when she was seated next to one of the bespectacled, plaid-clothed, straight-A students. "Fuckin' nerds," she muttered aloud.

Aisha got a sense after a while that she would be one of the people seated in the back of the classroom; which could be a good thing in some perspectives, but not a great thing if she was gonna have to listen to the teacher and read the board from so far away. It was when Ms. Helen had filled out every row except the very last one from the front of the classroom that she confirmed this suspicion.

"Let's see here," Ms. Helen murmured. "Let's seat the people who are sitting on the edges first. Aisha, you'll take the far end of that desk by the window on the right."

Hm, the window seat. The same seat most anime characters get, she pondered to herself. Without looking at the other unseated people, she walked over to her new permanent spot for the rest of the semester and sat down. She took a quick glimpse out the glass to look at the sunny sky, a few clouds roaming about.

The weird thing about all the desks in the classroom was that they were made for two people each; they were like long, rectangular boxes with one longer side cut out for people to sit and push their chairs in. Aisha had heard stories about girls and boys getting felt up from the waist down in this classroom, since the desks were conjoined together by pairs and wouldn't show what was going on underneath it. While these rumors seemed frequent and while they also seemed somewhat believable, they didn't seem to be bountiful enough for teachers to hear about them and switch out the desks, so Aisha dismissed the notion of whether it was true or not.

"Alright then... and Rena, you'll sit next right there next to Aisha."

Hmm, Rena. Another random girl she didn't know very well; okay, that was fine. If she was lucky, the two would never speak to each other except for partner assignments for the rest of the year, and that way Aisha wouldn't be distracted from the teacher. 

"Okay."

_Wait a minute_. Rena...?

Aisha turned her head too late to see that it was none other than who she thought it was: the third girl she had failed to notice who had stood alongside Karis and Chloe only a few moments ago. As usual, the blond bombshell was still quite a sight; her bright blond hair, glimmering like cornsilk, was still grown long and layered, maybe even an inch or two longer than when Aisha had last seen it, floating listlessly around her waist. While the uneven-cut bangs around her forehead and along the sides of her face remained untouched, the longer layers of hair that surrounded those were this time pulled back behind her head and around the rest of her hair, tied into a short braid. Her face was clean, without a rash or a pimple, and her foundation must have been so natural-looking that her skin didn't seem even a little bit caked with makeup, like a second skin.

When her eyes lowered down to her body, she was dismayed to see that there were even more improvements since last meeting. Her figure had only gained more curves, and was still healthily slender, her waist small and tiny. Her larger-than-average breasts were still big, if not, maybe even bigger; the khaki-colored double-breasted coat that came in the Velder High uniform was noticeably more taut around her chest. Aisha bit her lip, whether it be out of jealousy or out of fascination. Her legs were still long and shapely, moving gracefully and gently underneath the navy blue skirt. Every step she took, one foot went in front of the other like she was wearing heels, tossing her hips from side to side.

Aisha's gaze moved back upward, this time to Rena's face again, to see that she looked indifferent; not in an arrogant way, but in a more casual way. She didn't seem unhappy to be next to her, but she didn't seem overly excited either.

Rena quietly stepped closer over to the desk and finally pulled open the chair beside Aisha and sat down, pulling her seat in so she could get closer to the tabletop. She set down her bag beside her on the floor and started unraveling her things, taking out a thick graph-paper notebook and a green and blue pencil case. Aisha thought she might as well do the same, so she copied her and unearthed her geometry books out of her bag too.

"Alright everyone; get used to your new spots, because you'll be sitting in them for the rest of the semester." A collection of protesting moans wailed out, plus one rejoicing one from Richian in the front, which Ms. Helen all calmly ignored.

“Anyway, class: like the start of most new semesters, we’ll be starting a new unit, about trigonometry.” She wrote the five-syllable word on the whiteboard with a black dry erase marker and wrote a pair of page numbers underneath it. “Today we’ll just be doing a simple reading of an introduction to the concept. I hope you all remembered to bring in your textbooks from last semester…” When only half the class was capable of producing the hardcover-bound latest-edition Geometry volume, she sighed. “If you forgot, share with a partner next to you.”

Aisha noted that Rena, like herself, had also brought in her textbook. But she found it strange that there were sheets of paper sticking out of the first half of the book, the edges decorated in red pen marks that did not seem to be there for embellishment.

“Once you’ve finished reading the introduction, I’d like you to attempt exercises 1-25. They shouldn’t be too complex, so if you can use the book as a guide to help you along the way. And if you have any questions, I’ll be right here.” Ms. Helen wrote the numbers ‘1-25’ on the board in case if anyone asked in the next few minutes.

Set to work, Aisha flipped open her textbook to the corresponding page numbers and read through the paragraphs, analyzing the given information about rules of SohCahToa. It only took her a few minutes to finish: she opened her notebook and started working on the first exercise.

A minute or so afterward, Rena also seemed to complete her reading, and she reached over and grabbed her similar notebook, opening it to a new page. Except when she flipped it open with her right hand, a packet of paper resting in side of it flew out.

The packet soared over Aisha’s side of the desk and tumbled on the floor beside her chair. Her concentration broken, she looked over momentarily at Rena, whose eyes were, shockingly, wide with fear.

“S-Sorry!” she stammered, her voice low in a whisper.

Aisha internally raised an eyebrow. This was rather unlike the confident demeanor she had put upon sitting next to her. What was wrong? “It’s okay,” she murmured back, giving a sympathizing smile.

Turning to her right side, she bent down and picked up the packet of paper off the ground, when she noticed something intriguing. The packet was an old test, from what it seemed, an old test from the previous semester. It was an exam on probability, an interesting unit, from what Aisha remembered. But the intriguing part was the fact that the test was almost covered in errors; answers crossed out, answers circled, question marks along the sides. Along with the giant D- marked on the top of the page, it was clear that probability hadn’t exactly been Rena’s strong point.

Thankfully, Aisha didn’t stare too much to come off as suspicious, and quickly handed the packet back to Rena, looking from her beautifully manicured fingernails up to her pretty painted face. There was a weird look in her eye: even if she was facing Aisha, her gaze was averted elsewhere, a solemn smile of thanks on her lips. She was embarrassed.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She turned back to her desk and stuffed the packet of paper into her backpack, taking out a pencil and starting to work on the first exercise.

Aisha glanced at her curiously, before looking back at her work, realizing she shouldn’t make her new table partner uncomfortable. But it had grabbed her attention for a moment. Ever since middle school, she and her old nerdy friends used to think that since Rena had the perfect body and perfect personality, the word ‘perfect’ must’ve applied to everything else she was involved in. She must have been perfect at school, perfect at sports, maybe perfect at everything else too. But they had never really known her as a person: how could they have assumed so surely that just because Rena was pretty and nice, she was good at anything else?

* * *

 

 

“You seem to be in a cheery mood,” Elsword muttered, chocolate drizzling through his napkin and onto his fist, as he walked alongside a whistling Aisha. School had finished for the day, and the two had just been dropped off back into the farmland by the school bus. Chung wasn’t with them, as they had decided to take the later bus just so they could each grab a cone of ice cream before heading home. “Did something lucky happen today?”

“Didn’t I tell you already?” Aisha crunched on the last piece of the waffle cone that had held her chocolate ice cream, throwing her arms up and resting her forearms on top of her head. “I get to sit next to a hot girl in my Geometry class. For an entire semester!”

“Oh, that.” Elsword sighed, unimpressed by her answer. “What is she? New girlfriend material or something?”

“Heh, I wish,” Aisha grumbled. Everyone in the entire school knew about Rena and her cold-and-brooding-on-the-outside but warm-and-fuzzy-on-the-inside handsome boyfriend, Raven. All the gossip she had ever heard about them made the two sound like star-crossed lovers who were meant to be together for all of eternity. Even Raven’s fan club of squealing freshman girls supported their relationship; they must’ve been quite the match. “She hangs out with all the straight girls and has a boyfriend, so I wouldn’t have much of a shot anyway.”

“So you’re just happy you get to sit next to her for 5 months?” Elsword asked.

“Who wouldn’t be?” Aisha returned. “Her looks alone are enough to brighten up my day. If you were given a seat next to a cute girl and you had to keep it for half a school year, wouldn’t you be happy?”

Elsword frowned. “Probably not.” He slurped at his ice cream. “Maybe in middle school. But I can hardly give a single shit about it now.”

“You’ll just have to find the right girl,” Aisha told him reassuringly, patting his shoulder. He wrinkled his nose; he didn’t seem so convinced.

“Who is this chick anyway?” Elsword asked. “You never told me her name.”

Aisha laughed nervously. “I don’t know if you’d want to hear it.”

He sighed in exasperation. “Are you really going to make me guess? Just tell me.”

“Well,” Aisha began, comically scratching her chin as she thought to herself. “She has long bottled-blond hair. She has big hazel eyes. Long legs, nice butt, little waist. And…” She slowly turned her head to Elsword, wiggling her eyebrows. “... A ginormous rack.”

It took a few seconds before he gave a reaction. “Oh. My. God.” Elsword stuffed his face in his hands while Aisha laughed at his response. “You can’t be serious.” He stared at her through the gaps between his fingers. “Rena?! The hot girl you’ll be sitting next to for an entire semester is Rena?!”

“Aaaaaand that’s why I didn’t want to tell you who she was,” Aisha responded.

“Ach, jeez…” Elsword scowled, itching the back of his head, his brow furrowed. “Well, in the end, it’s not like I care or anything,” he said. “I can’t tell you that you have bad tastes.”

“Are you still hung up over it?” Aisha asked. “The break-up, I mean.”

Elsword shook his head, his tone remaining casual. “No. I’m not, to be honest. This happened in 8th grade, you know. Dating was becoming this huge thing, everyone started looking to be in relationships, and I just got swept up into it. All these girls started coming over to me and telling me that Rena liked me, and I just remember getting all excited and I told all my friends that a girl like that had a crush on me. And then at this school party, I asked her to slow-dance, we went outside and kissed under a full-moon, she slipped my fingers under her shirt-”

“What?!” Aisha demanded.

“We were horny middle school kids, okay?!” Elsword snapped. “It just kind of happened, you know? Anyway, she started asking me to hang out with her everyday after school. I started getting pissy about it because I no longer had any time to myself. Then I couldn’t take it anymore and broke up with her on the school field trip to Hamel, and we haven’t spoken since.”

“Wow.” Aisha marvelled silently about Elsword’s exciting dating adventures, envious of his experiences in the big world of relationships. “I’m totally not jealous that you got to put your hands under Rena’s shirt,” she said sarcastically. “Care to share the details? What was it like? How did it feel?”

“I’m starting to wish I didn’t,” Elsword snapped. “Anyway, the moral of the story is that I don’t care that Rena and I broke up because I never really cared for her that much in the first place. So feel free to hit on her as much as you like as long as it doesn’t get you in trouble. Not that you need my permission, anyway.”

Aisha laughed. “Nah, it’s okay. I probably won’t be flirting with her any time soon. Her annoying-ass friends would make sure of that. They seem about as comfortable with lesbians as they are with pedophiles.”

Elsword raised an eyebrow. “You sure? Just because she’s with a guy doesn’t mean she can’t be with a girl.”

“Ohh, trust me.” Aisha stared up into the sky, her tone a little distant. “That’s not a line I’ll be crossing.”


	6. Old Songs & Clothing Websites

(Ohhhh, if I was a rich girl…)

"Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naaa…"

(See, I'd have all the money in the world…)

"If I was a wealthy gi-irl…"

(No man could test me, impress me…)

"My cash flow would never ever eeeend…"

('Cause I'd have all the money in the world…)

"If I was a wealthy gir-ir-ir-irl…"

Humming away deep within the Velder University dormitories, Rena sat in her and Aisha's room after classes, the air conditioning blasting as summer continued to be a nuisance, wreaking havoc upon the poor students by raising the potential risk of heat stroke. The windows were closed but the blinds were rolled up, allowing the sun's glimmery rays to shine through the glass. Rena was in her usual summer attire, a loose-fitting short-sleeved gray crop top letting soft air blow on her exposed belly, as well as no bottoms: a new habit she was starting to develop as the temperatures grew worse. Instead, she left her sea-blue panties uncovered, allowing her legs to breathe better than they did in shorts. Her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, so her locks wouldn't stick to her sweaty neck, while her face of makeup was starting to melt, her mascara-coated eyelashes bound to glue to her lower lash line.

Meanwhile, she was huddled up in Aisha's swivel chair, frowning concernedly as she scrolled down on the computer. An old pop radio station was playing songs from the early 2000s, and she hummed along as Gwen Stefani's voice sang lyrics that couldn't be any truer about Rena's situation.

"If I sell my life savings and financial aid along with my dignity, maybe I'd be able to afford this $145 dress," she whispered dreamily, observing an expensive white floral frock that reached the floor while musing about how broke she felt.

She started scrolling again, before stopping abruptly at the sight of a new shock. "How is that shit $180?!" she snapped, staring at a sleeveless, tight open knit dress that reached the knees. "It looks like it came from Goodwill…" She clicked on a different link, to a maxi dress covered in a simplistic, abstract shark print, priced at $108. "And this looks like something my grandmother would wear," she muttered. "Forever 21, more like Forever Mid-60s."

The door behind her opened. "I'm home," Aisha said, entering the room with heavy shoulderbag in hand. Rena lowered the volume on the radio, Gwen Stefani getting hushed, and turned the swivel chair around to get a good look at her. She was dressed in business attire, this time a pale pink sleeveless button-up with a black bow tied under its peter pan collar, paired with a flowy black skirt and strappy brown sandals. Her hair was down, and as usual, she seemed rather tired. Rena couldn't blame her: she wouldn't be able to handle Mr. I'm-Better-Than-You Add bitching all day about sales. It made school seem appealing.

"Welcome back, sweetie," she purred. "Want me to untie your bow? Unbutton that shirt while I'm at it?"

"Well aren't you awfully perky today," Aisha mumbled, walking towards her and setting down her bag on the desk. Smirking, Rena's hand moved as quick as an arrow towards her lower back and started to unzip her skirt. She didn't make it all the way down, because soon enough Aisha's hand had shot and grabbed hers, halting the zipper's descent. "Rena!"

"Sorry, I was trying to help you undress," she responded innocently, her hand let go of as Aisha pulled the zipper back up. "Wouldn't you rather be in something a little less tight?"

"How is my skirt tight? It's not like one of those pencil skirts you own," Aisha protested, sticking her fingers into her bag to look for something. "Would you rather I be wearing nothing?"

A wicked glint appeared in Rena's eye.

She rolled her eyes somewhat vexatiously. "I'm not gonna ask." As she pulled a thick, important-looking black binder out, she cast her gaze over the computer screen which Rena had turned her attention to. "What are you looking at?"

"I was looking for cheap clothing stores, and it seems like Forever 21 is one of the places where poor-ish people go shopping," Rena explained, scrolling down a page full of blouses. "But jeez, a lot of this stuff is either too high-fashion or too expensive. Like, look at this one." She pointed at a blue chambray button up shirt. "See how it has no fancy collar or anything, it's just like a circle around the model's neck? That kind of look is something you find on a catwalk. Or like this one right here?" The mouse directed Aisha's line of view to a deep V-neck white and blue crop top. "It's $60! I don't even usually have 60 bucks when I go shopping these days!"

Aisha gazed at the page calmly. "I don't know, some of these things seem worth your while. Don't you like the other items on the site that aren't high-fashion or overpriced?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Rena scrolled down a little further. "I mean, I'm gonna sound even more like a typical female stereotype, but it's a good store from what I can tell."

"Do you want to go shopping there or something?"

Whoa. Well  _that_  was unexpected. Rena turned the chair very, very slowly towards Aisha, who stood beside her, reading through some material in her binder. "You're joking," she murmured in awe.

Aisha raised an eyebrow at her like she was amused. "What gave you the idea that I was?"

"Aisha, you're so anal about our budget that you'd rather go to Costco and take a cart full of samples than actually buy groceries," Rena said. "Are you sure the heat isn't influencing you? Have you been feeling queasy? Do you have a fever?" She balanced herself on the swivel chair and stood on her knees, taking a hold of Aisha's shoulders and gently placing her forehead against hers.

Their eyes locked.  _Just like old times_.

As she let out a gentle breath on her face, their lips close, Aisha smiled. "This is really romantic, Rena," she told her quietly, her voice low and sweet, yet so loud in her ears. It sent chills down Rena's spine. "But all you're going to get is my sweat on your pretty head." Her fingertips touched her waist, feeling the bare skin which the shirt wasn't hiding. She raised her chin and planted a kiss on her nose. "Save that move for the winter, okay?"

Rena sighed, releasing her, but she didn't seem too down. "Man, you never fall for anything, do you?"

"Not really, I just know all your tricks." Aisha headed for the bed, binder in hand, where she slouched across it. "Also, you should put on some pants." She started flipping listlessly through the pages, her solemn expression making her seem even more dead inside than usual. She stopped at certain pages to analyze certain bits, while appearing extremely uninterested.

Rena somewhat missed the times when Aisha used to read YA-fantasy novels regularly, how her cute face always lit up every time something dramatic happened: even when nothing was happening, she remained completely engrossed in its story. Now when she read, it was reports from the investing company she had a job at. She no longer read as enthusiastically as she did before. Now it just seemed forced.

"Can't you just let me be a lil' bit flirty sometimes?" Rena asked. She wiggled her eyebrows. "Maybe pretend to blush for me when I make a move?"

Aisha scowled, but didn't completely seem to be from her question. She wasn't lifting her eyes up from the page she was looking over. "It's kinda hard to reciprocate your affectionate-and- potentially-sexual advancements when I've worked my ass off writing reports all day and worrying about our current housing situation," she grumbled. "I'm already considering cheap apartments to move into if the student body discovers our relationship and attacks our room with torches and spray paint."

"Oh, relax." Rena turned her chair back to the computer and began clicking through links for different pieces of clothing. "This is  _college_ , Aisha. Everyone's too wrapped up in their own little lives to worry about what anyone else is doing around here. Trust me, every person I've met here is either skipping their classes and getting stoned to death, or attending too many classes and agonizing about their futures. I bet I could go stand on the rooftops and shout 'Hi, I'm Rena and my roommate is actually my girlfriend' until my voice breaks."

Aisha just shook her head and sighed. "Life's never that simple, you know. And please don't actually stand on the rooftops and out ourselves to the entire school," she added.

"Don't worry, I wasn't," Rena replied. "I've been playing the whole 'straight-girl' act so well that no one would believe me even if I did."

They were silent for a moment. Most likely from mentioning the fact that they were acting straight whenever outside of their dorm room. They had to.

The soft sound of the radio continued to bellow quietly, this time playing the 2005 Gorillaz hit "Feel Good Inc". Its familiar, signature catchy bassline rippled through the air, whilst singer 2D's low, melodic voice spoke hazily over it. Rena listened along the lyrics, remembering the story behind it: how the band had been in a dark, troubling place, and how the mantra "feel good" was repeated again and again to pretend that everything was okay.

It actually reminded her of her own current state: her and Aisha's. They were just two regular people, who also happened to be gay lovers, who would probably never be able to hold hands in public without someone staring at them like they were breaking the law. Velder was old-fashioned like that: its inhabitants weren't used to any sort of romantic, homosexual display whatsoever. And if they wanted to marry, they'd have to leave the country, and they didn't have the money for that. The only place they could ever be themselves was in their dorm room.

Rena enjoyed flirting with Aisha relentlessly when the door was closed, partially because she just loved seeing her. But maybe it was for another reason too. Perhaps it was like her own "feel good" mantra. To tell herself that everything was okay. To tell herself that even if she couldn't go on dates with her Aisha at coffee shops, or couldn't kiss Aisha on the lips in a park, or couldn't talk about their relationship with others, or couldn't bend down on one knee and put a ring on it: she could still act like a tease with her, say it was okay, and pretend to feel good.

But it was just a lie. Because everything wasn't really okay.

Aisha suddenly opened her mouth. "So; do you want to go shopping or not?"

"Shopping?" Rena brought herself back to the present, quickly clearing her head, and twisted her chair back around to face her. "Like... at Forever 21?" Rena asked, crossing her legs and leaning back in the chair.

"Yeah… Or just the mall in general." She glanced at her from across the room, her tone laced with nostalgia. "It's been... awhile... since we've gone together, after all."

Rena smiled, but her eyes were narrowed. "Aisha, are you sure you really want to go to the mall? Because if you say yes now but change your mind later, I'll hold it against you."

Aisha laughed lightly at her comment, no longer taking her as seriously. "What does that mean?"

The grin on Rena's face grew, and it was undeniably evil. "I'll have to punish you."

"Punish me?" She still sounded doubtful, tapping her fingers rhythmically against the surface of the paper, her gaze back down to whatever was on it. To most people, Aisha would've sounded tough, strong, and indestructible, like there was a thick glass wall, hard to break, that was protecting the fragile, warm and fuzzy interior of her being. But Rena knew her too well: sometimes, if she looked carefully, she could spot a crack on its surface. And she could see one now. "And just how are you going to do that?"

Rena slowly stepped off the swivel chair and walked towards the bed, smirking, her . She bent down, getting on her knees, and put her hands on the bed, tracing her fingernails over the opened binder, her eyes intent on her girlfriend's mildly concentrated face.

Aisha looked up from the paper she was reading, puzzled, as Rena crossed her arms tightly and leaned forward, their noses almost touching. She smiled unsurely. "You know," she said, "that shirt you're wearing is covering up the cleavage you're trying to seduce me with."

"Shut up, it's the thought that counts!" Rena snapped. She inclined over the bed and brushed her bangs away, beginning to gently kiss up her neck, towards her jawline. Her skin tasted sweet like candy. Aisha was silent, still trying to read the paper, but when she and Rena brushed cheeks, it felt indistinctively warm. She had her. When she started kissing her ear, she tensed up: and when she nibbled, she squeaked.

Rena chuckled, braiding her fingers into her purple hair and her other arm reaching underneath her armpit to grasp her back. She breathed softly on her ear. "Got ya."


End file.
